Software-implemented processes have a direct influence over many aspects of society. Digital consumer companies are disrupting the old guard and changing the way we live and do business in fundamental ways. For example, various companies have disrupted traditional business models for taxis, hotels, and car rentals, by leveraging software-implemented processes and interfaces to create new business models that better address consumers' needs and wants.
An Internet of Things (IoT) has developed over at least the last decade, representing a network of physical objects or “things” with embedded software that enables connectivity with other similar or dissimilar things. In some examples, connected things can exchange information, or can receive remote instructions or updates, for example via the Internet. Such connectivity can be used to augment a device's efficiency or efficacy, among other benefits.
Similarly to the way that consumer device connectivity is changing consumers' lifestyles, embedded software and connectivity among industrial assets presents an opportunity for businesses to alter and enhance operations, for example in fields of manufacturing, energy, agriculture, or transportation, among others. This connectivity among industrial assets is sometimes referred to as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).